Richard was their seventh child, he had four older brothers and two older sisters. He was named after Richard McClure, an Irish immigrant whose daughter Isabella later married Richard Obney's older brother Thomas.
Richard was five years old when his father died. His mother then married Alex Stephenson, and Richard grew up in North Fayette Township. He was very well-schooled and religious, as evidenced by the inventory of books in his estate, including Edward's Redemption, Philosophy of Baptism, Sears Bible Geography, and curiously, The History of the Reformation by D'Aubigne. (On the 1850 census, Richard's nephew Thompson Obney gave his surname to the enumerator as 'Aubigne')
Richard had purchased land in 1832, and another piece of property in 1837. The money for these purchases may have come from Richard's step-father, Alex Stephenson, who passed in 1830, as within a few years after Alex's death, all his step-sons made land purchases.
This is a document from 1836, witnessed by Richard, in which Richard's mother, Susannah signs to relinquish her deceased husband Alex's estate, six years after Alex's death:
Richard seemed to have earned a living as a shoemaker, as many tools of this trade were sold at auction at the estate sale held a quick 14 days after his death. He may have learned this trade from his step-father Alex, who was also a shoemaker by trade.
When he was 32 years old, Richard married Sarah Ann Gracy of Jefferson County Ohio on Sept 12, 1838. They were married by the same minister who had performed the marriage of Richard's older brother James Obney in 1836. One suspects that Richard may have met Sarah Ann while visiting his brother James or his sister Susannah (Obney) Carson, both of whom had moved to Jefferson County in the 1830's.
Richard and Sarah Ann lived in Fayetteville, a small community in North Fayette Township along the Steubenville Pike.
In 1840, his household consisted of himself, another male of a similar age who may have been his brother Joseph Obney, a boy aged 10-14 who I suspect may be his nephew Thompson Obney age 14, who was missing from his father's household for 1840 census, and who also was a shoemaker by trade........learned from Richard, perhaps?), his wife Sarah Ann, and a woman aged 70-79, his mother Susannah (Morris) (Obney) Stephenson.
Richard and Sarah Ann had one child, a son named Sanford C Obney, born in 1843. By the 1850 census, Sarah Ann had died, and Richard was living alone with Sanford.
Richard Obney died May 26, 1852, aged 46 years old. He left his estate to his young son Sanford, then 8 years old, with the exception of his 'wearing apparel' which he left to his brother Joseph Obney.
Richard was buried in Montours Church Cemetery, North Fayette Township, Pennsylvania.
Feel free to send me an email, jdynbttn@gmail.com
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